April 1, 2001 - The Myth and Reality of Globalization For the last three months the Web Updates have focused on the management of virtual organizations. An interesting book that takes a serious look at some of the issues of New Economy organizations is Evolve!: Succeeding In The Digital Culture of Tomorrow by Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Harvard Business School Press, 2001. (Amazon.com is much cheaper than the HBSP).
An issue that will become more important as e-commerce grows and globalization increases is the effect of global business on national cultures.
Web Exercise
The following are presumably myths about globalization:
- Globalization is a conspiracy by big companies against smaller companies and countries.
- Globalization is concentrating market power in the hands of a few large corporations.
- Globalization's evil tool is information technology.
- Globalization is "companies without rules or law."
- Globalization takes away local jobs.
- Globalization undermines cultural diversity.
- Globalization lowers labor standards, turning developing nations' workers into slaves.
- Globalization is destroying the environment.
- Globalization means multinational corporations will flourish at the expense of smaller companies and consumers.
- Globalization widens the gap between rich and poor.
Use the World Wide Web to explore whether they are myths or the reality of globalization. Some useful web sites include: labor unions, the United Nations, the World Bank, major global corporations such as Daimler-Chrysler, Cocoa Cola, and General Electric, as well as sites devoted to global issues such as global warming, economic development, health, and working conditions.
Depending on your findings and your interpretation of them, in your view, what changes will occur over the next five to ten years that will affect globalization? For example, at the moment there is a slow- down and possible recession in the U.S. economy while Japan, the second largest economy behind the U.S., continues to experience severe problems. Will this curtail the growth of globalization? Or is it an opportunity for strong companies to widen the gap between domestically oriented businesses and those with global aspirations?
Finally, where do you fit in the global picture? Is the job market where you live affected by globalization? Is cultural diversity an issue in your community? How has information technology changed the way you live?
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